H1N1 vaccination

[mvgrogan]

Went to neuvola today - son aged 7 months will be vaccinated against piggy flu next week and daughter aged 3 years won't be! I won't be either because although I am asthmatic, I am not taking daily treatments and I am over 40.... not sure about that logic because my lungs are only bad when I come in contact with cats & dogs (allergy) OR when I catch a cold I do qualify for the regular flu jab, as does my son & my daughter....

are there any stats on the safety of the jabs?

[annekmc]

Well it seems like we might be too late for it, was at the doctor today and he reackons it looks like we may well have it already. One of my daughters is 3 and the other 6, but since when he checked us there were no breathing difficulties, he said we should just treat it like normal flu (which it can be) but he never saw the need to even to a swine flu check, so obviously doctors etc. are not too concerned at all unless you are in a high risk group.

[Amandine.K]

My son could get it, daughters as well. They are 6, 6 and 1. But it takes 2 weeks for the vaccine to be effective and there are a lot of cases in my girls' school and around me. Right now they are both sick fighting infections (throat, eye, urinary) but one of them is having high fever (above 39) that I cannot get down despite regular dose of paracetamol and ibuprofen. I just keep an eye on it hoping my son won't get it and that I'll be able to avoid it as well!

[irnbru]

My son could get it, daughters as well. They are 6, 6 and 1.

Can they already get it? I was under the impression that only health workers, pregnant women and people with existing health conditions can get it in Helsinki at the moment.

My 3 year old has a nasty cough and a runny nose and my 3 month old has a runny nose. Great timing just before it peaks in a couple of weeks

[annekmc]

My son could get it, daughters as well. They are 6, 6 and 1. But it takes 2 weeks for the vaccine to be effective and there are a lot of cases in my girls' school and around me. Right now they are both sick fighting infections (throat, eye, urinary) but one of them is having high fever (above 39) that I cannot get down despite regular dose of paracetamol and ibuprofen. I just keep an eye on it hoping my son won't get it and that I'll be able to avoid it as well!

Yeah the high fever is bad, both my girls are reaching 39.8 it does come down to about 38.5 with pamol f, but rises again as soon as the pamol f wears off.

[Amandine.K]

Same here. But I give her Ibuprofen sirup as well and it works well. Last night she went to bed with 38.5 despite the paracetamol o I gave her a dose of ibuprofen and she had a good night with fever around 37.5. Shame they don't do it in Finland. They only have the ibuprofen sirup in hospital. I always bring two or three bottles from France as they are cheap and you get them over-the-counter.

[Mook]

are there any stats on the safety of the jabs?

They're as safe as any other flue jabs (and a lot safer than the Flu iteslf) Just made with a slightly different strain.

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/10/h1 ... your-kids/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badas ... u-version/

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience

[Aigars]

Maybe that's just my paranoic point of view, but by now all that international vaccination thing looks like a global experiment...

And besides - from typical seasonal flu there are more annual death cases than from this crap.

[irnbru]

And besides - from typical seasonal flu there are more annual death cases than from this crap.

Yes we know this but when's the last time you got seasonal flu? I can't ever remember having it. This "crap" will infect at least 1 in 3 people. When you have a baby under 6 months who can't be vaccinated and will most likely be hospitalized if they catch it, in a hospital that will be pushed to breaking point, because so many others are already there, it's somewhat of a concern.

No doubt you are a healthy adult with no kids who will beat this easily if you catch it.

[Mook]

Maybe that's just my paranoic point of view, but by now all that international vaccination thing looks like a global experiment...

Mmmm, experimenting since 1796

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination

[Lisa 15]

Yes we know this but when's the last time you got seasonal flu? I can't ever remember having it. This "crap" will infect at least 1 in 3 people. When you have a baby under 6 months who can't be vaccinated and will most likely be hospitalized if they catch it, in a hospital that will be pushed to breaking point, because so many others are already there, it's somewhat of a concern.

No doubt you are a healthy adult with no kids who will beat this easily if you catch it.

exactly my point
It seems that my two eldest one (5 and 6 yo)can get it from the neuvola next week, as for my husband and myself, we have to wait. Since so many people don't want the vaccination, what about giving it to the one who wants it even though they're not in the risk groups? I'll sure be first on line, so that my baby would be protected.

[kay30]

I can't understand people who are turning away this vaccine. Besides the risk of possibly getting VERY ill, how about other scenarios:

- possibly getting the flu and then spreading to others who cannot fight it off and putting others at unnecessary risk
- causing an increase in doctor's visits thus preventing doctors from helping those who really need it
- increased cost to the medical system when it might be prevented
- increased cost to labor markets when ill people are out sick
- etc, etc, etc

I read somewhere that most people who think they get the flu every year actually do *not*. They may have a nasty cold or chest infection, but the flu (any flu, especially this one) is really, really different. I think I can count the number times I have been so ill with the flu as to be unable to get out of bed for a few days (as in, not physically able to move) on one hand.

That being said, I really wish people would stop insisting on still shaking hands right now. Common sense, people.

[mvgrogan]

I think part of the problem is that many people think that "flu" is just a bad cold - IT's NOT! It's a deadly disease! It kills thousands of people every year.... a bad cold may be inconvenient & uncomfortable but is unlikely to finish you off!

I also notice that in finnish the word "flunssa" seems to mean a cold or flu.... which can't improve anyone's understanding. My finnish is very poor, so apologies if I've misunderstood this - our "lovely" lady at neuvola looked very puzzled when I explained the whole family has had colds but not flu!

Anyway - the son & heir's piggy flu vaccination due this week must now be postponed as he has an ear infection and is on antibiotics!!

Did anyone see the Panorama prog this evening on YLE1? How many ECMO machines are there in Finland? and where??

[AldenG]

That being said, I really wish people would stop insisting on still shaking hands right now. Common sense, people.

The "Obama terrorist fist bump" is getting popular with some surprising people in the US.

In case most people in Finland have no idea what the expression "terrorist fist bump" is about, it was a meme that Fox News (Rupert Murdoch's right-wing TV propaganda news network, run by the former head of the Republican Party and the central coordinating point for the weekly and daily "talking points" harped on throughout Republican media) tried to start during the runup to last year's Presidential elections. They spent a week showing Barack and Michele doing the fist bump and spreading the word to their geriatric viewers that this was the favored form of greeting among radical Islamic terrorists. Yes, there are actually a lot of people who see so little other TV and cinema that they believed it. Of course most of the country was laughing at the whole thing.

[tuulen]

ummm, tuulen, pregnant women are supposed to be vaccinated right after health
care workers.... Pregnancy correlates to an increase in mortality from
this mild virus, limited vaccine supplies dictate some sort of prioritized list. For
some the fact that they didn't order adjuvant (sp?) free vaccine for pregnant
women is an issue (at least I've seen such questioning in Finnish and Canadian
news, not an issue for the US which doesn't put it in vaccines, problem being
the US will have far less vaccine to go around without it).

Oops! I have heard so many things about the H1N1 vaccination.

It almost seems that the story about it changes form one country to another.